Kids Museums in Denver15 Top Options for the Entire Family

Kids museums in Denver offer your kids the chance to have fun as they learn about art, animals, and history. On my list of the top 15, you will find options such as the Denver Art, Children's and the Nature & Science Museum.

Read on for details and the activities available for your entire family.

1. Children's Museum

One of the best kids museums in Denver is the downtown Children's Museum. It's an open environment for your little ones to explore, learn, and play.

They can enjoy a gondola ride, cross the monkey bridge or go camping in the Altitude Exhibit. In the Bubbles area, they can learn how bubbles are made, make their own bubbles, or work in the vapor station. These are just a few of the fun activities they will encounter.

This attraction is designed for newborns up to 8 years old.

2. Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is one of the most visited attractions in the Mile High City. While it's focus is on art through the ages, I was struck by how many interesting kids activities they have in each exhibit.

As you enjoy the art, your kids can walk along with you as they search for pieces in a scavenger hunt. Other highlights for kids include creativity stations and game areas where they can learn more about art. This is why you will find it on my list of the top kids museums in Denver.

3. Firefighters Museum

The Firefighters Museum is another great place for kids. The museum has added hands on, interactive pieces to their traditional exhibits.

This kids museum in Denver is packed full of interesting pieces of history. It's housed in the original Firehouse #1, which was built in 1909. It's open Monday - Saturday.

4. Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys

A visit to this museum is one of the more interesting things to do in Denver with kids. Housed in a colonial cottage built in 1899, the museum features furnished miniature houses, antique dolls, Japanese dolls, a miniature circus, and miniature cars, trains, and planes. Kids will enjoy displays that teach them history, art, architecture, and geography.

Tours are self-guided. Many workshops are designed for kids age five and older. Make reservations a month in advance.

5. Museum of Nature & Science

This is one of the kids museums in Denver that is just east of downtown in City Park. It includes dozens of exhibits, an IMAX theater, and a planetarium.

Popular exhibits include Space Odyssey, Expedition Health, and Gems & Minerals. Make sure to also leave time for the Discovery Zone where younger kids can interact and learn more about science.

6. Kids Museums in Denver: Money Museum

The Money Museum is a small downtown attraction. It's a fun place to visit to learn more about money.

Inside, you will find just a couple of rooms. The first is where you can see money from different time periods and see what $30,000,000 dollars looks like up close. You will also get the chance to see a $100,000 bill.

Make sure to also check out the second room that offers an easy to follow video on how the money system in the US works.

7. Forney Museum of Transportation

Checking out the vehicles at the Forney Museum of Transportation is one of the many fun things to do in Denver with kids. The museum houses more than 600 antiques such as motorcycles, aircraft, steam locomotives, sleighs, and carriages. Museum highlights include a dining car, cable car, steam tractor, Amelia Earhart's 1923 Kissel "Gold Bug," and Indian motorcycles.

Self-guided tours must be booked at least one week in advance. Group tours require reservations two weeks in advance.

8. Museum of Contemporary Art

This is one of the best kids museums in Denver as it (free for kids 18 and younger) targets teens with its many programs, including the chance to work with professional artists. The Fox Family Idea Box is a special area where families can participate in hands-on creative activities.

Don't miss the beautiful city views from the rooftop deck, which also offers coffee, lunch, and a full bar.

9. National Ballpark Museum

If your kids (or you) love baseball, then you owe it to them to visit the National Ballpark Museum just across the street from Coors Field. Considered one of the finest private baseball collections in the world, creator and curator Bruce Hellerstein has amassed seats from all the country's classic ballparks.

You'll also find other memorabilia such as jerseys, bricks, photos, books, postcards, and more. All major league teams are represented, including the Denver Bears and Colorado Rockies.

10. Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum

The Wings Over the Rockies is one of my favorite kids museums in Denver. Set inside a large hangar, this attraction allows you to take an up close look at air crafts such as a 1975 F-14 A Tomcat, a 1926 Eaglerock, and 1970 B1-A Lancer.

You can also step inside the cockpit of a commercial airplanes or spend time inside of of their simulators. Don't miss their Space and Rocketry exhibits, which are right after you enter to your left.

11. WOW! Children's Museum

One of the educational and fun things to do in Denver with kids is spending the day at the WOW! Children's Museum in Lafayette. Kids will enjoy hand-on activities and exhibits related to arts, math, science, and more.

All exhibits are aimed at kids ages 1 to 11 and include activities such as dancing, banking, gardening, puppeting, yoga, and playing with the pirate ship and sandbox. If you have toddlers, bring them to toddler hour on Tuesday or Wednesday at 9 a.m.

12. Morrison National History Museum

Visiting this natural history museum is one of the perfect things to do in Denver with kids who love dinosaurs and fossils. They'll get to see research in progress, explore rocks and fossils, learn about natural history via hands-on exhibits, and hear from experts in the field. Exhibits include a quarry garden, fossil dig pit, Jurassic garden, labs, live reptiles, and dinosaur skulls.

Guided tours are recommended and offered three times a day, but you can also explore the museum on your own.

13. Tiny Town Railroad

Steam-engine trains take you on a trip back in time at Tiny Town. This village of colorful miniature buildings includes a church, hotel, jail, bank, gas station, and more places for curious kids to explore. However, the main attraction is steam-engine and diesel trains that you can ride around this former ghost town.

Talks to engineers, ride in the caboose, picnic among the towering pine trees, and frolic on the playground. Kids will feel right at home in this tiny town built just for them!

14. Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave

Visiting the legendary Buffalo Bill's museum and grave is one of the most interesting historical things to do in Denver with kids. The museum honors William F. Cody, aka "Buffalo Bill," a buffalo hunter and star of his Wild West show.

Artifacts include Bill's show outfits, firearms, Sitting Bull's peace pipe, and the head of the last buffalo Bill Shot. Bill lived from 1846 to 1917 and is buried at a site overlooking the beautiful Great Plains and the Rockies.

Kids will love the Cowboy Corral where they can dress as cowboy and Indians, practice lassoing, and sit in a horse saddle. There's also a gift shop, trail, picnic areas, and cafe.

15. Colorado Railroad Museum

One of the great kids museums in Denver is the Colorado Railroad Museum where they can ride the historical trains. Kids can take a trip on steam locomotives, attend story time, make crafts, and explore the 15-acre rail yard, which is home to more than 100 steam and diesel trains.

The depot museum has thousands of photos and artifacts dating back 125 years. Be sure to check out the galleries, library, general store, and roundhouse restoration facility.